Govt debt up 2.8% at P5.8T in March

OUTSTANDING debt of the national government rose to P5.8 trillion in March, up 2.8 percent or P159 billion from a year earlier as domestic obligations increased, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said on Thursday.

Compared with the previous month, the end-March government debt reflected an increase of 0.5 percent or P30.59 billion.

Domestic obligations stood at P3.8 trillion as of March, rising by 5.3 percent year-on-year, while external debt amounted to P1.9 trillion, down by 1.7 percent.

Of the total debt stock, domestic debt currently accounts for 67 percent while external debt makes up the rest.

On a monthly basis, the bureau said domestic obligations inched up 0.7 percent from February as a result of a net issuance of P26.66 billion and upward peso revaluation of foreign currency domestic debt by P470 million.

Meanwhile, March foreign debt rose 0.2 percent from the previous month as the P32.85 billion jump in the peso equivalent of US dollar debt was tempered by net repayments of P23.2 billion and devaluation of third-currency debt by P6.24 billion, the bureau said.

The country’s foreign borrowings in March consisted of US dollar bonds and notes, yen bonds, euro bonds and peso global bonds, priced at a foreign exchange rate of P44.80 to a dollar.

National government-guaranteed debt fell 11.8 percent to P416 billion in March from P471 billion a year earlier, but month-on-month, guaranteed debt rose 0.5 percent from February’s P413 billion.